A NEW fire and rescue station looks set to be built in Castle Donington this year.

The site of the station, in Beverley Road on the East Midlands Airport campus, has not get been purchased but Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service says it is in the “closing stages” of the buying process.

Earlier this month, it was granted permission by North West Leicestershire District Council for a change of use for the existing building on the site.

It was also given permission to place two temporary buildings on the forecourt of the site to use as a fire and rescue station while the existing building is refurbished.

The refurbishment work is estimated to start in July and be completed by the end of December.

Shaun O’Donnell, head of community response, said: “We have been looking at this for some time but, as you can appreciate, it is a complex process.

“We were looking at purchasing a site and building on it but that became too expensive so now we are looking at purchasing a long lease site at the airport.

“We haven’t actually bought it yet but we are in the closing stages.”

The fire service sees the village as an ideal strategic location to serve the busy M1, A50, A42 and A453 roads.

In its planning application, the fire service also identifies the Castle Donington area as carrying sufficient risk to warrant a new station.

It’s response targets are to reach life-threatening incidents within 10 minutes and non life-threatening incidents within 20 minutes but it says it does not currently achieve this in the area.

The service says the new station will “increase the geographical area we can cover, maximising our operational response”.